Abrdn falls to pretax loss after ‘one of the toughest investing years’
The firm will sell its discretionary fund management arm to a Liechtenstein private bank for £140m
28 February 2023 - 17:31
byIain Withers and Sinchita Mitra
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London — British asset manager Abrdn fell to a full-year pretax loss and reported a slide in client funds for 2022, as global markets turmoil and runaway inflation weighed on its finances.
But the company beat low analyst forecasts for its earnings, sending its shares up as much as 6% in early trading. The stock was last up 1% early on Tuesday.
A rout in equity and bond markets last year, worsened by rising geopolitical tensions and the war in Ukraine, have squeezed investment manager earnings.
Abrdn reported a £615m pretax loss for the year ended December 31, compared to a £1.1bn profit the prior year.
CEO Stephen Bird said 2022 had been “one of the toughest investing years in living memory”, but added the firm was resilient and had posted an annual profit on an adjusted operating basis of £263m.
This beat the £241m figure forecast by analysts, according to consensus figures compiled by the company.
Abrdn’s assets under management fell 8% to £500bn from £542bn, while the company reported a further year of net outflows of client funds.
Bird is two years into a three-year plan to try to turn around the firm’s ailing fortunes, after years of outflows and temporarily dropping out of the FTSE 100 index of major British firms last year.
Abrdn announced a 14.6p per share full-year dividend for investors, broadly in line with analyst forecasts.
The company also said it had agreed to sell its discretionary fund management arm abrdn Capital to Liechtenstein-based private bank LGT for £140m.
The sale involves the transfer of about £6.1bn of assets and about 140 employees, the company said.
Bird, who joined abrdn in 2020, has tried to cut costs and expand the business into mass-market retail investing through the acquisition of interactive investor.
The company, which was once known as Standard Life Aberdeen, was formed through the merger of Aberdeen and Standard Life in 2017.
Separately, wealth manager St James’s Place demonstrated its appeal among retirement savers and investors, posting net inflows of £9.8bn in 2022 and funds under management of £148.4bn, down from £154bn in 2021.
“We achieved the second-best year for new business flows in our history as our advisers performed admirably in helping clients feel confident in their finances and remain on track for the future,” CEO Andrew Croft said in a statement.
Support our award-winning journalism. The Premium package (digital only) is R30 for the first month and thereafter you pay R129 p/m now ad-free for all subscribers.
Abrdn falls to pretax loss after ‘one of the toughest investing years’
The firm will sell its discretionary fund management arm to a Liechtenstein private bank for £140m
London — British asset manager Abrdn fell to a full-year pretax loss and reported a slide in client funds for 2022, as global markets turmoil and runaway inflation weighed on its finances.
But the company beat low analyst forecasts for its earnings, sending its shares up as much as 6% in early trading. The stock was last up 1% early on Tuesday.
A rout in equity and bond markets last year, worsened by rising geopolitical tensions and the war in Ukraine, have squeezed investment manager earnings.
Abrdn reported a £615m pretax loss for the year ended December 31, compared to a £1.1bn profit the prior year.
CEO Stephen Bird said 2022 had been “one of the toughest investing years in living memory”, but added the firm was resilient and had posted an annual profit on an adjusted operating basis of £263m.
This beat the £241m figure forecast by analysts, according to consensus figures compiled by the company.
Abrdn’s assets under management fell 8% to £500bn from £542bn, while the company reported a further year of net outflows of client funds.
Bird is two years into a three-year plan to try to turn around the firm’s ailing fortunes, after years of outflows and temporarily dropping out of the FTSE 100 index of major British firms last year.
Abrdn announced a 14.6p per share full-year dividend for investors, broadly in line with analyst forecasts.
The company also said it had agreed to sell its discretionary fund management arm abrdn Capital to Liechtenstein-based private bank LGT for £140m.
The sale involves the transfer of about £6.1bn of assets and about 140 employees, the company said.
Bird, who joined abrdn in 2020, has tried to cut costs and expand the business into mass-market retail investing through the acquisition of interactive investor.
The company, which was once known as Standard Life Aberdeen, was formed through the merger of Aberdeen and Standard Life in 2017.
Separately, wealth manager St James’s Place demonstrated its appeal among retirement savers and investors, posting net inflows of £9.8bn in 2022 and funds under management of £148.4bn, down from £154bn in 2021.
“We achieved the second-best year for new business flows in our history as our advisers performed admirably in helping clients feel confident in their finances and remain on track for the future,” CEO Andrew Croft said in a statement.
Reuters
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